Staff photos by Tom Kelly IV
West Chester's Brandon Pepper (32) picks off a pass meant for Bloomsburg's Tony Peregrin (18) late in the game. The West Chester University Golden Rams, defeated the Bloomsburg Huskies, Saturday afternoon November 30, 2013 by a score of 40 - 38 in the NCAA Division II, round two game.

BLOOMSBURG - Bill Zwaan and the West Chester players swore Saturday’s rematch against Bloomsburg was not a revenge game.

All they wanted to prove was that the Golden Rams were not as bad as they played in their prior matchup with the Huskies three weeks ago.

They did one better.

Sean McCartney completed 24-of-39 passes for 348 yards and had four total touchdowns as West Chester (12-1) held on in the final minutes to defeat Bloomsburg 40-38 in a NCAA Division II Second

Round game at Redman Stadium.

The Golden Rams head to the NCAA Super Region One final next Saturday against unbeaten Shepherd of West Virginia, a 7-0 winner over Winston-Salem.

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“This game was so big for us,” Zwaan said. “We just wanted to show people who we were. We lost one game this year and just beat the team that beat us so what does that say about us? We’re a pretty (darn) good football team.”

For 60 minutes, West Chester was the better football team on a cold, windy day in the Northeastern Pennsylvania Mountains against their PSAC Eastern Division rivals.

The Golden Rams didn’t dominate the stat sheet, but executed their game plan to perfection early on in this one.

Turnovers by Bloomsburg (10-2) in the first quarter helped West Chester take an early 14-point lead. After forcing a three and out to start the game, Huskies wide receiver Lawrence Elliott Jr. muffed Rich Bruno’s punt and the Golden Rams took over at the Bloomsburg 40. Like the Golden Rams did many times on this day, they capitalized with good field position.

McCartney found LaRonn Lee with a 17-yard strike to make it 7-0 to cap a seven play drive.

After a Bloomsburg field goal cut the lead to 7-3, West Chester started their next drive with a short field again. Once again they executed. McCartney found Tim Brown for a 25-yard touchdown to give the Golden Rams a 14-3 lead. On the first three drives, McCartney was 3-for-5 for 40 yards on third-and fourth-down plays.

“We executed much better this time around and made plays,” Zwaan said. “That’s what you have to do in this type of game. You can’t let Bloomsburg get ahead because they can eat clock. We just tried to stay in front of the game.”

Regardless, Bloomsburg used workhorse running back Franklyn Quiteh to get back in the game. Quiteh scored two touchdowns, of 24 and one-yards out, to tie the game 17-17 with 1:44 to play in the first half. He had 12 carries for 165 yards at halftime and became the first player in NCAA Division II history with three 2,000 yard seasons in a career.

Quiteh also had a fumble that was forced by Brandon Pepper after a 43-yard run. His first fumble in 232 carries led to a West Chester field goal late in the first.

To end the first half, West Chester took advantage of a short field once again. The drive was capped by a Shawn Leo 21-yard field goal as the Golden Rams took a 20-17 lead into the locker room.

West Chester outscored Bloomsburg 14-0 in the third quarter to take full control of the game. After the defense forced a three and out on Bloomsburg’s opening possession of the second half, McCartney completed all three of his passes to put West Chester deep in Bloomsburg territory. He capped the nine play, 65-yard drive with a 1-yard sneak on 4th-and-goal to give the Golden Rams a 27-17 lead.

Three possessions and an exchange of turnovers later, the fifth-year junior found Brown from 16 yards out to give the Golden Rams a commanding 34-17 advantage heading into the final quarter.

Bloomsburg continued to claw its way back into the game with two touchdown passes from quarterback Tim Kelly of 16 and 72-yards, but West Chester continued to take advantage of great field position.

Leo hit two field goals, the last one being a season-long from 43 yards, to give the Golden Rams a 40-31 lead with 7:21 to play.

Zwann sent Leo out for a 53-yarder earlier in the game, which he missed short and wide right. He drilled his last field goal in what was the biggest kick of the game.

“I probably wish I’d take that first kick back and punted,” Zwaan said. “Shawn knew what he wanted to do on the next one. Once our offense slowed down, we needed those three points to make it a two score game. He’s the career guy for us. I knew he could do it.”

Pepper made the play of the game on Bloomsburg’s next possession with an interception off Kelly in the red zone with 3:21 left. The interception kept it a two-possession game and forced the Huskies to use their remaining timeouts.

“I had one option on the last play on a slot between the linebackers, so I took a chance,” Pepper said. “I stared the receiver down and jumped the route. That’s kind of how it worked.”

“Good anticipation by the kid,” Zwaan said. “Sophomore made a huge play in a big game and was big for us today.”

With no timeouts left, Kelly found Tony Peregrin for a six-yard touchdown with 34 seconds to play to make it 40-38.

Bloomsburg needed to recover the onside kick to have a chance at a miracle comeback. After a large scuffle for the ball, the Huskies were offsides and West Chester left Redman Stadium with their school-record 12th victory of the season.

Zwann and his players talked about execution and conversion the entire week of practice heading into West Chester’s biggest game of the season to date. The game plan was simple according to McCartney.

“We’re 12-1 and still playing,” the QB said. “Bloomsburg is going home. That’s the way we wanted it.”

NOTES: Rondell White finished with 27 carries for 113 yards on the ground, becoming the first player to rush for 100 yards against Bloomsburg this season. The Rustin grad also had five catches for 43 yards. ... Brown finished with five catches for 112 yards and two touchdowns, all career-highs. Leo tied a career-high with four field goals. ... Quiteh finished with 26 carries for 208 yards and two touchdowns for Bloomsburg. He finished his career with 7,523 yards, which is second all-time in D-II history (Danny Woodhead, Chadron State; 7,962). ... Kelly completed 19-of-31 passes for three touchdowns. ... Unionville grad Connor Gades caught a 72-yard touchdown pass from Kelly in the fourth quarter.